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(No Modell.) T T T T E. T. 81,- B. E, STARR.

SECONDARY 0R STORAGE BATTERY, l

No. 276,300. Patented Apr.24,1883.

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WITNESSES:

J E INVENTOR: By izez'r /ttorney j ELITT. STARR AND n. nIIeNEsrAne, or PHILADELPHIA, PA., AssIeNOns l on ONE-HALF rro WILLIAM J. PnY'roN, or WASHINGTON, D. o.

i1 UNITED STATES PATIN OFFICE@ SECONDARY OR STORAGE BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION formngfpart of Letters Patent No. 276,300, dated April 24, 1883.

f Application alec December aisee. (Notarieel) casing or envelope ot' some stout material, in

To all whom it 'may concern! T Beit known that we, ELI T. STARR andE. `orderTto give support to the vessel and protect EUGENE STARR, both of the city andcounty. `it during transportation. TIhe open end or tcp of Philadelphia, in the State of.Eennsylvania,T ot"` the vessel Aisprovidedwith a closely-tit- 5 have jointly invented certain new and useful ting non-conducting `lid or cover', ai, and be 55 Improvements in Secondary or Storage Batltween the edges of said vessel and said lid 0r .teries,ot` which the following is a specification. cover we interpose a packing materiahct. The Ourinvention relates tothe class of batteries lid or .cover is fastened securely and tightly in i'oIpproducTin g `or generating electricity known place, so as to make the chamber of the vessel 1o as;jT\Tsecont1aryT7 or storage batteries. These or box air-tight, and this is done by means of 6o i batteries are charged or putinto condition `for suitablefastening devices, shown as consistgenerating electric currents 4by the actionot l ing in thisexample of screws a2, passing down T j a current ot' electricity evolved` bya generator through the lid or coverinto the walls or sides of T and caused to, dow through the battery, the the body of the vessel. By making the battery- Ti 1 5 workot' the charging-current being recovered, vessel air-tight greater ease and safety in hand- 65 .T when desired, byTconnectTing the electrodes of ling are permitted, among other advantages. T the battery by an electric conductor. Within the air-tight chamber ot' the vessel T The object ot' ourpresent invention is to proor box are arranged the positive and negative i vide aniinproved secondary or storage battery, elements orelectrodes of the battery, together j `zo and torender more economical, certain,and with the snbstance (an electrolytic fluid, usu- 7o i Teftective theresults sought to beaccomplished allyTacidulated water) to be acted upon by the l by such batteries. T charging-current, in order to place the battery The stibject matter claimed is particularly in condition to generate electricity when the T pointed out at the close ot' `the specification. poles or electrodes ofthe battery are connected `2 5f It is to be understoodthat AsotneofT our presin circuit by aconductor. T. i ent improvements may be usedfwithout the T T'lhe `electrodes"preferably consist ot' lead others, and in batteries diierentfrom that par? plates B, the positive and negative plates be-` ticularly shown' in the accompanying `drawing preferably, respectively, of diii'erent thick# ings, which drawings show all ourVsaid fim-` ness or size; or the positiveand negativeplates 3o provements as embodied in one battery in the may be ot' diierentmetal-as for example, the Sa best`wa`y known to us at thedateofiiling our positiveTplates may be otlead and the nega-` applicationof DecemberTSI, 1881. This pres-T tive plates Tof palladium.` Ve prefer to com` ent application isa division of our said applistruct the positive plates of greater thickness cation of December 31,1881, and is restricted than the negative plates, in orderto enable` the 35 to the claims particularly recited at the close positive plates to withstand the contortions or 8 5 of this specitication.T` l/Ve disclaim herein all changes of shape to which they are especiallyY other partsof our invention describedor sub-` liable to undergo during the formation of the T stantially indicated in this case in favor of our battery. Theincreased durability and strength T said application of 148811 i i of the positiveplates may be imparted to them T40 Fignrelisavertical central section through in various ways.T The plates B in both the `9o the improved secondary r Istorage battery, positive and negative series we prefer to be in and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section therethrough the form ofseves, or with holes or depressions on the line a: 0c of Fig. l. Tmade therein.4 It' thin plates are used as the The body ot the vessel orbox A ot the batelectrodes, they may be indented or depressed T 45 tery is constructed preferably of the oblong by a pointed tool, so as merely to stretch the 93 rectangular shape shown in the drawings, and metal without completely perforating it. We T of material which .is a non-conducter of ele`cprefer, however, this Tsieve or perforated form tricity, such as `Tg`l`ass,`h`ard` rubber,.or"`gutta of` plate, as itaffords greater surface to receive T percha. `When` thevessel A is"so constructed the material with which the plate is coated or 5o wepreferably strengthen it by a surrounding supplied, and which is to be affected by the too charging-current through the decomposition of the electrolytic liquid of the cell. We prefer, also, to provide the battery-plates with recesses or receptacles for the reception of the aforesaid material, which is usually porous when active, and these recesses are clearly shown in Fig. l, being formed by the walls of the projections b2, through which the openings or perforation's of the plate are made. -By means of said recesses between the perforated projections the porous active material is more securely held to and supported upon the plate, and a larger amount of said material may be applied to the plate to be effectively acted u pon or affected by the charging-current thanv if the plate had plain sides or were simply perforated, which construction is highly advantageous, in that it secures greater capacity with the same weight of battery for the accumulation or storage of the energy of the charging, current. This porous material, or material to be made porous or active, may be red oxide of lead, peroxide of lead, sulphate of lead, peroxide of manganese, or any equivalent thereof, moistened with dilute sulphuric acid, or with a salt in solution, (which does not chemically aft'ectthe oxides,) or any equivalent thereof', in order to form a paste. This paste so prepared, or the equivalent thereof, is thoroughly mixed or incorporated with bers or brous material-such as raw cotton, for exampleand is then spread upon the plates B in layers C, the thickness of which relatively to the thickness of the metal plates may be about as shown in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings; but the proportion may of course be varied. The bers, by reason of their mixture with the 0xide or its equivalent, become virtually conductors throughout the entire layer of the oxide, whereby it will be evident that alargelyincreased surface of the oxide is presented to the action of the charging-current, and greater surface is afforded for the accumulation or deposit of what may be termed the energy of the charging-curren t.77 Not only does the ber act in the highly-benecial manner indicated, but it enables a secondary battery of large capacity to be produced without too great weight, and it also acts to bind together the mass composing the active porous material, and also to make it cling or adhere to the plate, which are Aimportant features.

The positive and negative series of plates, (respectively marked b and b,) with their oxide or its equivalent, each constitute a compound battery plate or element, and are separated by a porous partition or plate, D, to constitute a resistance medium; or, in place thereof, a layer of felt, E, or some equivalent thereof, may be interposed between one side'of each plate B of the compound positive and negative electrodes and their layers of oxide orI oxide and ber, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 2.

It will be seen that each electrode in the example shown is made up of a mass of nelydivided or porous active material, held and A which may be of supported at its sides between the plates B, which plates are not solid, but, on the contrary, permit ready access through them of the electrolytic uid, and also permit the ready action of the accumulating forces upon the active material. The edges of the active mass in the example shown are supported by the non-conducting sides ofthe battery-vessel and by the nonconducting frame or oor F', hereinafter described, and such a method of supporting the mass as we have described-to wit, at its sides by open plates and at its edges by a separate support-is in some cases preferable. Through each mass making up the positive and negative electrodes or elements we insert a preferably non-conducting tube, F, glass or hard rubber; or, in place ofthe tube, strips may be used to separate each mass, the prime object of which is to carry 0E or give comparatively free vent or escape to the surplus gases generated in the battery by the action of the charging-current, which gases, if not removed, mulation of the energy of the said current.

At the lower end of the vessel A, above its bottom, is inserted a perforated plate or frame, F', which constitutes a partition or oor, upon which the interior parts of the battery rest. A space, f, is thus formed between said oor and the bottom ofthe vessel for a portion of the electrolyticuid of the battery and for the free collection and upward escape oi' the gases unopposed by solid matter, and a like space, f', is formed at the top of the battery, between the conducting-plates and oxide and the cover of the battery, for a similar purpose. The spaces or tubes F a'ord free communication between the top and bottom spaces,ff, of the battery, and the gases from below thus prevent the ready accu IOC readily escape upward through the liquid of w the battery, and the surplus thereof thus collects in the top space and escapes through a valve-opening, g, in the lid or cover when the valve G is raised from its seat or opened. Said valve G is automatically operated by the action ofthe charging-current, said current opening the valve to permit of the escape of the surplus gases which are generated during the charging of the battery, while the valve isautomatically closed when the charging-current is cut off or ceases to ow to the battery. The charging-current ows from the generator tothe battery througha line-wire, l, which passes around a soft-iron core mounted on the top of -the battery-cover to form an electro-magnet, H, and is then connected to a binding-screw, I. Said binding-screw is electrically connected with the seriesof plates constituting the compound positive electrode or element of the storage-battery. The charging-current thus passes through the positive and negative plates and their layers, C, of oxide and ber, or its equivalent, and through the electrolytic uid, or a portion thereof, and causes the chemical action which results in the storage or accumulation of energy by converting the positive pole or IIO IIS

ryielectrode into an oxygen element, and the neg- Stative pole or electrode into a hydrogen element,

"l fand said current then returns to the generator fby Way of Wire 2.

It is evident that as soon as the chargingyfcurrent begins to ow to the storage-battery [the armature J of the electro-magnet H will b'e attracted and the valve G opened by means of the pivoted beam j,`,While-as soon as the cur- .12 rent s cut oi' the valve will be automatically closed by its weight, which is4 greater than that of the armature J. If desired, a spring 2. A compound electrode for secondary batteries, consisting of a mass of nelydivded active material supported at its opposite sides between plates which permit access through them ot' the electrolytic duid of the battery, and at its edges by a non-conducting support, substantially as described.

3. An electrode for electric batteries, consisting of a mass of uely-divided active material, perforated metal plates or supports at the sides of said mass to support it, and a separate support for the edges of said mass.

may aid in the retraction of the armature in a common manner to return the valve to its seat 3 to close the vent-opening g. As soon as the 1 battery is sufficiently charged the connection i with the generator is cut of. When it is desired to generate a current of t electricity by the storage-battery its electrodes` are connected by a conductor.

` We number this division of our applicatie of 1881 No. 2, for identication. i

4. The combination, in a secondary battery, of electrodes, each consisting of amassof iii-nelydivided active material supported and held at 4 5 its sides between supports which permit access through them of the electrolytic uid ot' the battery, and at its edges by a separate support, with a porous partition or diaphragm between said electrodes, substantially as de- 5o scribed.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto snbi We claim herein as our inventioni 1. A compound electrode for secondary bat teries, consisting of `a mass of finely-divided active material supported at its opposite sides between plates which permit access through `them of the electrolytic fluid of the battery,

g and at its edges `by a separate support, subp stantially as described.

scribed our naines this 30th day of November, A. D. 1882.

ELI T. STARR. E. EUGENE STARR. Y

Witnesses:

WM.- J. PnY'roN, J AMES YOUNG. 

